Aided by developments in shipbuilding, mapping, and astronomy, Europeans took to the oceans between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries in search of spices, gold, and slaves. Voyages to Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific—and their legacies—are dramatically described here through an authoritative text and compelling images.

The golden age of exploration includes Columbus’s first voyage to America in 1492, John Cabot and the Northwest Passage, Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe, and the exploration of the South Pacific. The facsimile documents feature ships’ logs, drawings by explorers of the people and places they encountered, and letters home. 80 full-color and 70 black-and-white illustrations.